Feeding Time
by Chrys-DASL
Summary: George has recently gotten more into cooking, a new hobby that he's quite good at. But what happens to his old hobby, ventriloquism, specifically his prized dummy, Wally? Can he find a way to combine the two? One-shot. Infinite Theme List Challenge.


**Feeding Time**

George was working in the kitchen when his father left for a delivery. He'd recently taken a cooking class, and because he'd proved himself to be safe in the kitchen, his parents let him make things on the stove top. He was enjoying himself, taking ingredients and turning them into something delicious.

But this new hobby was interfering with his old hobby, ventriloquism, and the cracks were beginning to show. George had a recurring dream where Wally comes to life and demands to be paid attention to. Sometimes he was a demanding patron in a restaurant or diner. The night before, he was an unruly house guest. Either way, George was having issues leaving Wally behind for his new love of food.

As he stepped into his room, he noticed the closet door was open. He didn't remember opening it, but it made his task easier as he leaned in to retrieve Wally.

His hands felt around the small shelf he'd built for Wally. Normally he hit the dummy's arms, hands, feet, or even his clothes before he touched the shelf. Today, it was all shelf. George peered closely inside.

Wally was gone.

George frantically searched his room, but its clean condition left Wally nowhere to hide. He moved into the bathroom, not knowing why he'd be in such a place, but he looked anyway. He looked under the sink, behind the toilet, and finally, he pulled back the shower curtain.

"Looking for me, George?" Wally called.

"AHH!" George cried. He fell back against the toilet, eying Wally carefully. The dummy was in swim trunks and pretending to shower himself, though the water wasn't on. George eyed him with confusion as he stepped out, tossing his shower cap back onto the edge of the tub. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be able to do that."

"Who cares, buddy? Are we going to have breakfast or what?" Wally questioned, walking out of the room.

George pinched himself, trying to find out if he was dreaming or not. The pinch hurt but he didn't wake up, but this still couldn't be happening unless it was a dream.

"George! I'm hungry!" Wally called from downstairs. George groaned and ran downstairs. As he entered the kitchen, he found Wally sitting at the counter's edge. "Chop, chop, buddy. I want an omelet with spinach, cheese, and mushrooms—no olives or meat, please," Wally demanded. George didn't know if he had all of those ingredients, but he felt guilty for leaving Wally out. So he opened the refrigerator-

And all of the requested ingredients were there. George didn't question this at all. He moved to the counter to chop up the ingredients, prepare his eggs, and the other steps related to preparing this meal. He did one final check before moving towards the stove to begin preparing the dish.

Then, the doorbell rang. George sighed and moved to the door. He opened it to see Muffy, Francine, Sue Ellen, and Maria, school books in their arms. _Crap, we were supposed to study together!_ George thought. Then he remembered what he was doing, _Oh man, if they see me cooking for Wally, they'll think I'm crazy!_

"Um, George, do you mind letting us inside? It's a little chilly out here," Sue Ellen said, waving in front of George. He nodded and allowed them inside as Buster and Arthur rolled up on their bikes. Before the girls could remove their winter gear, they were inside.

"You look like you were in the middle of something," Arthur noted. "We can begin without you if you need to finish," he offered. The others agreed and moved into the living room. George nodded, asking if anyone needed anything from the kitchen before he returned. Muffy was thirsty, so he brought some water bottles into the living room, hoping that would keep them out so he could finish feeding Wally his omelet.

But as he turned on the pan and began melting some butter on its hot surface, Sue Ellen stepped into the room, eying the scene carefully. Her eyes fell on Wally, who turned his head towards her. He laughed, "You look like you've seen a ghost, kid! You want the chef here to make you anything?"

"Um...George, how exactly-?" Sue Ellen began. George held up his hand, "I don't know. Maybe this will calm him down though," he said, pouring a bowl of scrambled eggs into the pan.

"Sue Ellen, it's-" Arthur stopped mid-sentence and mid-step as he eyed the scene in the kitchen. Wally was moving AND talking completely on his own. Arthur was half tempted to run out the door, but his legs failed him, and he continued to stare.

"I'm sorry," George apologized, "I don't know what's going on. But he wants me to cook for him, so I am. If it's too weird for you guys, I don't blame you for leaving."

"What's so weird, George? You're making food for a buddy and pal. Hey, you should make something for them too, some muffins or something," Wally offered. Sue Ellen and Arthur exchanged glances as Francine entered the room, "Guys, we're kind of here to study, not chat in the kitchen."

"We know that," Sue Ellen countered darkly, stepping aside so Francine could see. Francine immediately began to snicker, "You're blowing us off to cook for your dummy? Do we need to leave or something?"

"Why leave now? The party's only getting started!" Wally exclaimed.

"How did he do that?" Francine asked, suddenly realizing what the commotion was about. Muffy and Maria arrived a moment later, watching as George dropped in ingredients for Wally's omelet. They stood in stunned silence, not sure what to make of this scene. Quite frankly, George didn't know what was going on either, but he had to finish cooking the meal properly or it would burn the pan, making his parents upset and ending his cooking days for good.

"So let me get this straight: George is cooking an omelet for Wally, who can suddenly move and talk on his own?" Muffy questioned. Maria nodded, "Yeah, and I don't know what to make of it either. It smells really good though."

The group nodded in agreement. Whatever George was doing, he was doing it right. They gathered around Wally, eying his ingredients carefully. Then, they placed their orders too. George scrambled eggs, chopped ingredients, and then he began making a steady stream of omelets. Wally ate his in silence, then Francine received hers.

"This is so good," she said with her mouth full. Muffy grimaced until hers arrived a moment later. Even her luxurious upbringing couldn't stop her from exclaiming with her mouth full at the wonders of George's spatula. Soon, all of them were exclaiming in agreement, and George had run out of ingredients. The meal was over, and Wally finished his dish first.

But things weren't going back to normal. As his friends returned—with Wally for some reason—to the den to continue studying, George worked at cleaning the kitchen, trying to decipher the day's events into some sort of logical cohesion. Everything made perfect sense, _except that his dummy could move and talk on its own_.

George didn't know how such a thing was possible. He'd seen talking puppets in movies and cartoons, and even in books and stories. But real life? That was an impossibility.

Or so he thought.

As George moved into the den to study with his friends, he could hear mechanical whirring as Wally turned his head to see what everyone was up to. He was cracking jokes, trying to distract them, and everyone was getting annoyed, particularly Arthur and Muffy.

"George, could you make that thing stop? I can't figure out what I'm doing because he won't stop talking!" Muffy exclaimed. George apologized, but the exclamation only made Wally's behavior worse. He began to dance around the room and trying to instigate a game of 'duck-duck-goose.'

The group was fed up. Arthur stood, and with Buster's help, they tried to pull Wally up the stairs. As they fumbled with the dummy, a box fell off his back and onto the floor. Movement and talking stopped, and the group immediately looked to each other for answers.

The silence was very telling, however. As they sat or stood there, they heard laughing coming from a closet, quiet at first, then roaring as the person sat amused nearby. Arthur and Buster dropped Wally onto a chair, then they opened the door.

Brain and DW were there with soft smiles on their face. George was shocked. Why would Brain do such a cruel thing to him and the others? And why would anyone want to work with DW on a prank?

"You should've seen the looks on your faces!" DW cried. Brain stood, handing the controls to George, "I made this a while ago and planned to give it to you as a gift. When DW came to me with the prank idea, I wanted to see if it would work. I apologize for any hardship I may have caused."

"Why would you do this in the first place? This could've been very bad," Muffy said sternly. DW shrugged, "I just wanted to mess with Arthur. I heard him tell Mom he was coming over here to study because we're repainting the living room. I talked to Brain about it because he's so much smarter than you, especially dumb old Arthur. He agreed, and it only cost me two weeks' worth of allowances," DW beamed.

"This is sick! He was talking and moving and everything!" Maria cried. The others nodded in agreement, not impressed with DW, but definitely not impressed by Brain. Only George stepped forward, picking up the electronic box from the floor.

"So how does this work exactly?" George asked. Brain smiled, but Arthur and Buster pulled away from him. Buster shook his head, "Look, that was just creepy. Why would you want to know how it worked?"

"Well, I like cooking, and I want to know how I can do something with cooking and Wally, but I need both hands to work with him or the food. Maybe this could help me do some cooking shows for the internet and ventriloquism too," George offered.

Brain nodded, "That was my intention, to give you another way to manipulate Wally to free yourself for other tasks. I wasn't aware you were into cooking, nor that you were already so good at it."

While the others were still upset with the prank, Brain's logic won them over. George was a very good cook, but he needed something else if he wanted to cook and do ventriloquism at the same time. Brain had that answer, even if DW had cruel intentions for it.

Either way, they all had an exam to study for. DW was ordered to go back home, but the others remained to work through the facts and figures Mr. Ratburn wanted them to memorize for their upcoming exam.

Even as they worked, George was thinking of what he could do with Brain's new technology, and how he could do something completely new in both industries.

"Hi, I'm George Lundgren, and welcome to Wally's Restaurant! Wally is my dummy, and he'll be ordering what he wants from today's menu. The theme is Italian food," George recited. The camera moved to Wally, dressed in a top hat and suit holding a fancy menu. He ordered spaghetti, which George then prepared step-by-step for his audience.

Out of frame, Brain was manipulating Wally's controls and activating a computer program to use his voice. Everything worked perfectly, even behind the camera, which Arthur was using for him. The cooking show was on its second episode now, and the first had received rave reviews online.

George had successfully combined his new hobby of cooking with his old hobby of ventriloquism. While Brain's prank had scared him and the others at first, they all learned to accept that the cruel prank actually had really good intentions. They all promised Arthur and each other that they would never help DW with a prank again, no matter what money she offered them.

~End

Theme 4: New Technology, Theme 5: New Hobby, Theme 72: Trying Something New, Theme 91: Exams

Themes from my Infinite Arthur Theme List Challenge. PM me for more info.


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